Tao of Poker

Good Causes: For Peyton and the Paul Hannum No Limit Hold'em Charity Tournament

First of all, I encourage all bloggers to post about For Peyton. In the insane cut throat world of poker, it's refreshing to see people step up and donate their time and money towards a worthy cause. Stop by and check out the items up for auction.

Secondly, WPT photographer Paul Hannum passed away during the last week of the WSOP. His appendix burst and he died in the operating room in LA. I only knew Paul in a professional sense. My first encounter with him was when he yelled at me for walking in the middle of his shot when I covered my first WPT event. It was totally my fault and since then I'm extra aware of any photographers on the floor when I'm covering tournaments.

Since then, we've had a professional relationship and Paul was one of the nicest people that worked on the WPT. All of those winners photos I took of WPT champions took place under the direction of Paul. Since he was the official WPT photogrpaher, he got the initial shot and made sure the rest of the photographers got their shots before he asked the players to pose differently (holding up the money) or getting other people in the shot like Courtney Friel or the unlucky guy who came in second place.

Gavin Smith is arranging a charity poker tournament will be held at the upcoming WPT Legends of Poker tournament.

Paul Hannum Chairty Tournament
When: Tuesday, August 29th at 7pm
Buy-in: $1,000
Where: Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, CA

Announced Prizes:
FIRST PRIZE: 25K Seat WPT Championship Event at the Bellagio

SECOND PRIZE: Paradise Poker Conquest Prize Package (May 12-18th, 2007 Atlantis Resort, Bahamas which includes $5200 seat to the Conquest of Paradise Island Main event, 6 nights accommodations at Atlantis, plus $1K cash to your Paradise account)

THIRD PRIZE: Seat into the WPT Invitational

You can play for a shot at winning those cool prizes. All monies will go directly to Paul's fiancee Sarah Percy and their unborn baby girl which is due in October. Here's a chance to play with pros to help raise money for Paul's unborn baby girl.

If you are unable to play in the event and would like to donate some money, you can stop by www.babyhannum.com for info on how you can help.

Please help spread the word about Paul Hannum. "He genuinely loved and played the game - he bluffed with the best of them!"

If you would like to donate prizes for this event please shoot an email to Kristin@pokerpadz.com. Also if you want to play in the event, send her an email to RSVP for the tournament.

Thanks for spreading the word about For Peyton and Paul Hannum.